Improvement in awnings



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DE VIT'I C. BAXTER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN AwNlNes.'

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 147,090, dated February 3, 1874; application liled November l, 1373.

To all ywhom ft may concern:

Be it known thatl, DE WITT C. BAXTER, of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented Improvements in Awnings, &c. of which the following is a specification :r

rlhe object of my invention is to construct slatted awnings with a view to the attainment of increased strength and durability, and this object I attain in themanner illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a sectiona-l view of an awning made in accordance with my invention, and showing the slats closed; Fig. 2, the same, showing the slats-opened Figs. 3 and 4, enlarged views, illustrating the mechanism for opening and closing the slats 5 Fig. 5, an end View of one of thev flanged slats drawn to an enlarged scale; Figs. Gand 7, enlarged views of one of the lever-connections by which the slats are attached to the supporting and operating bars.

The lirst four figures of the drawing represent portions of an awning, such as would be suitable for overhanging the sidewalk opposite a store. The frame of the awning consists of lat bars A, of which theremay be any desired number, and which are supported at aproper inclination at one end bythe building, and at the opposite end by posts. To bolts a, arranged at uniform distances apart on these bars, are hung levers B, the upper ends of which are expanded to form plates b, as best observed in Figs. (i and 7, and to these plates the slats D are secured by riveting'or otherwise. rIhese slats aremade of plate or sheet iron, and are bent on their oppositeV Figs l and 3,'the ila-nge (l of each slat shall be overlapped by the iiange el of the slat immediately above it, thus preventing the passage of rain between the slats, and at the same time excluding the light. The flanges, moreover, add to the strength and stiffness of the slats, and, by preventing the latter from warping andtwisting, insure close fitting at the joints. The awning may, if desired, be fur= nished with a gutter, e, at its lower'and outer edge, to carry off the rain which will fall over the closed slats. The whole of the lever-connections B of the slats are attached to a single bar, F, or to two bars, F, one 011 each side of the said levers, and by means of thebars all of the said slats can be operated simultaneously. For the purpose of thus operating the slats I employ, in most instances, the device illustrated in Fig. 4, which consists of a toothed segment, f, secured to or forming part of one of the levers B, and a worm, f', gearing` into the said segment, the shaft of the said worm being supported in any suitable manner, either by the awning-frame or building to which the latter is attached, and being operated by a cord, g, wound upon a drum, h, secured to the shaft of the worm. rlhis device not only affords a ready means of opening or closing the slats,but of retaining them in any position to which they are adjusted, as the worm and segment will form an eliectual lock to prevent the slats from closing by their own weight when they have been but partly opened. Other equivalent adjusting and retaining devices may be substituted for the worm and segment, such as cog-gearing, with a pawl-and-ratchet connection.

I do not desire to claim, broadly, an awning with pivoted slats, to be operated simultaneously by a connecting-rod, as such slats have been heretofore usedin connection with awnings 5 but I restrict my claim to the especial mode of constructing the awning with a view to the attainment of strength and durability that is to say:

The within-described awning, consisting of the fixed ba-rs A, t-he series of arms B, pivoted to the said bars, the connecting-bar F, and the hanged slats D, each slat being carried by two or more of the said arms, and the Whole being otherwise constructed and combined in th manner herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I). IV. C. BAXTER.

lVitnesses:

WM. A. STEEL, HARRY SMITH. 

